School’s shortcomings stressed during tours
Officials discuss problems with facility as referendum nears
BY VINCENT TODARO
Staff Writer

EAST BRUNSWICK — If there has been one issue that all school officials have agreed on, it’s that something needs to be done about the Hammarskjold Middle School.

A tour of the school Monday revealed overcrowded hallways and classrooms, students frustrated they cannot use backpacks, decrepit bathrooms and systems that have outlived their usefulness.

The scene changes sharply, however, as one enters the 1996 addition to the otherwise 43-year-old school, with its large hallways and shiny lockers. District officials hope the entire school will soon resemble this section, now more of a jewel in the ocean.

School Principal JoAnn Susko said the school, which serves all of East Brunswick’s sixth- and seventh-graders, requires five lunch periods for the school’s 1,532 students to eat in the small cafeteria. This has meant that the first lunch period begins before 11 a.m.

“The kids are mostly having brunch,” said Patricia LaDuca, the district’s coordinator of community relations and programs.

Susko said the school feeds 300 students every 22 minutes with the staggered lunch periods.

“There’s barely room for supervisors and kids to move,” LaDuca said.

The district has pointed to Hammarskjold as the greatest reason residents should support the Dec. 14 building referendum. The project, calling for a mostly new Hammarskjold building and the expansion of the Central and Lawrence Brook elementary schools, is slated to cost $106.1 million. A second referendum to perform work on the other elementary schools is planned for December 2006.

Susko said state guidelines show the capacity for Hammarskjold at 692 students, less than half of the school’s actual population. The overcrowding even affects school assemblies, which are held in the cafeteria. It is impossible for all students to view an assembly at one time — and only one grade level can see an assembly on a given day, she said.

The school has tried to implement a “house system” of education, whereby students are in groups for the majority of their classes. However, the system needs the various house classrooms to be physically close together, something not possible at Hammarskjold, Susko said.

The school has tried to separate the sixth and seventh grades on different sides of the school. The sixth grade basically has its own side, but because of the overcrowding, the seventh grade classes are scattered throughout the school, she said.

A house system, also called a community concept, has each group of students attending the same Language Arts, social studies, science and math classes during the day. Language arts is a double block class, meaning children spend two periods there. The system is intended to foster bonds between students, as well as between each “house” of students and its teachers.

But walking through the school, one can see a number of displaced employees. Instead of having their own classrooms, these itinerant teachers travel from class to class with a cart. In addition to specialty class instructors, these include math and foreign language teachers, Susko said.

When then Gov. James E. McGreevey spoke at the school recently, he did so in front of six trailers that were meant to temporarily house students. But the trailers, which are not supposed to be used for more than two years, have been in use for four years. Susko said they are used for health, theater arts and foreign languages, serving both grades.

Walking through the building, one also sees students coming out of an art room to bask in some natural light, due to a lack of windows in the classroom. The children also need to use windows outside the room in order to trace, LaDuca said.

The school still has water fountains from the 1960s, Susko said, many of which do not work. Officials noted that the classrooms and hallways are small and do not lend themselves to modern teaching or the large enrollment.

Susko also noted how the old lockers are too small for students to make effective use of them. And students can only get to their lockers — which are too far away from classes for students to get their books and still be on time — three times a day, at most: before and after school and during lunch. The lockers are just too far away from students’ classes for kids to get their books and still be on

time for their next class. Some do not even make it there so often, LaDuca said.

Making matters worse is the fact that backpacks have been banned because of the overcrowded hallways, Susko said. That means students must lug their books around most of the day.

The school has also had to stagger dismissal times by a minute or two because of the crowded hallways, LaDuca said.

Rather than employ a true house system, the school has become departmentalized due to the limitations of the school, Susko said.

“The community concept is very scattered now. It’s not a true community concept because of it,” she said.

Superintendent of Schools Jo Ann Magistro has referred to the situation at Hammarskjold as “deplorable,” and students have complained about how long it takes them to get to classes due to the overcrowded hallways. Despite there being three minutes between classes, students still find themselves late or getting in just under the wire.

Class sizes are also far too high, Susko said. Every science and social studies class has 28 to 30 students, while elective classes have more. Some physical education classes have as many as 37 kids.

Another condition officials discussed on the tour was the fact that the school has no air conditioning for classrooms, and a heating system that is very inconsistent.

“We have major, major heating problems,” Susko said.

The school has tried to make up for the shortcomings by being creative. For instance, a former woodworking shop is now a physical education room and a former storage room is now a speech room.

The 1996 addition, which officials stress will be kept even if a new Hammarskjold is built, is a stark contrast to the rest of the school. Susko perked up while walking through the addition, noting its wide hallways, modern classrooms and new lockers.

The district has offered the public several tours of the school, with one remaining at 1:15 p.m., Dec. 9. A tour of Lawrence Brook is scheduled for noon Dec. 2, and at Central Dec. 8 at 10 a.m. To attend, call (732) 613-6892.